The Fifteenth of September
by Habeous Corpus
Summary: It's Jane's birthday, and the team celebrates. Crappy summary, decent story.


**A/N—This is in response to .ximaginex.'s challenge posted on the boards. **

**The Fifteenth of September**

Jane opened his eyes and blinked a few times. Today was September 15th. _Happy Birthday me,_ Jane thought. He was 40 years old today, and in the past, September 15th was a free day for him. He would clear his schedule and spend the day with his family. Not today, he had to go to work today. At least it was an honest job; it was more than he could say for his previous career! He rolled out of bed and started to get ready for work.

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Jane strode into the bullpen later that morning, coffee in hand. "I come bearing gifts!" At the word "gifts," Van Pelt's head snapped up, and then she got a silly grin on her face. "What?" Jane asked.

"What? Oh, nothing," she replied, a tad too quickly. Jane just gave her a sideways look.

"I will find out. You do realize that, right?"

"Find out what?" Van Pelt asked innocently. Jane's reply was a grin as he went to go make himself a cup of tea.

"Good job, Van Pelt. Just wonderful," Cho scolded. "Now he probably knows!"

"Oh, shut up. We all can't be robots!"

At that moment, Lisbon strode in. "You two done? We have a case."

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Lisbon was standing on the side of the road, arguing with a local officer. The rest of the team was placing bets on who was going to win.

"That guy is road kill. Lisbon is going to chew him up and spit him out," Rigsby told the group.

"No, he's going to win, because Lisbon has to be nice. Besides, it wasn't his fault we were sent on a wild goose chase," Jane said.

"We're all dead meat," Cho said. The rest of the team gave him confused looks. "When the boss isn't happy, nobody's happy. Trust me."

"Oh, I think I can fix that," Jane grinned.

Rigsby snorted. "It's your ass, man."

Lisbon came back over to the team. "Let's go before we waste any more of our time." Jane was about to say something, but she turned away before he had the chance to say anything.

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When they were back at the CBI offices, Van Pelt kept looking at Jane on the couch and stifling a smile. Jane wouldn't have minded, but he had no idea why. Well, he did. He just was hoping it was something else. Jane didn't really want a birthday celebration. As he was going through other possible reasons for Van Pelt's behavior, he dozed off.

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"He's asleep. How are we going to throw him a party if he's asleep?" Van Pelt asked.

"Simple. We wake him up," Cho told her.

"Okay," she said. There was a pause. "You wake him up."

"The party was your idea. You do it, Van Pelt."

"No!"

"Here, give me his present. _I'll_ wake him up," Rigsby proclaimed. Cho passed it to him. With one swift motion, he hurled it like a Frisbee, and it landed directly on Jane's face.

"Augh! What the…" the victim sputtered.

"Happy birthday, knucklehead!" Rigsby shouted.

"I'll get Lisbon," Van Pelt told them as she made a quick exit.

Jane shook his package. "I'm gonna guess what it is. A…" The package made a swishing sound. "Is it clothing?!"

"You could say that," said Lisbon as she made her entrance. Jane frowned and began opening his present. He took it out of the box and held it up.

"A bulletproof vest? Thank you. With all the perilous things I do, I could always use this," he said with a wry grin. "Wait, why does it have a 'damaged' tag on it?"

"Oh, the seam was poorly done, and it tore the first time it was worn. I fixed it though," Van Pelt explained. Jane nodded.

"Well, thanks. I actually can't find the stitching," Jane told her while putting the garment under scrutiny.

Van Pelt just stared. "You really can't? No fooling?"

"No, I—Oh, wait. There it is." He looked up with a mischievous grin. "It's done very well, and I appreciate it."

"Thanks." It was said with just a tinge of sarcasm, but mostly gratitude.

Patrick folded his new vest and got up to put it with his coat in his locker. After doing so, he leaned on the door. Tessa teased him once about wearing a bulletproof vest. He had received a threat in the mail, and was very agitated. Well, 'agitated' was putting it lightly. He was nearly tearing out his hair with worry.

"_I want to be there for you two! What will happen if something happens to me?"_

"_Boy, why don't you just wear a bulletproof vest? Or maybe quit your job? Or not ever go outside? Relax. You'll be fine."_

And he had. Tessa has—well, had—a strange power over him. Patrick stopped and thought. That particular memory wasn't accompanied by the usual wave of sadness. It came with peace. He decided right there and then, that whenever he wore his vest, he would wear it for Tessa.

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**Well, there it is. Birthday? Check. Memory? Check. **

**I'm done, peeps! :D**


End file.
